


You Be You and I'll Be Me

by CastielFollowMe



Series: Single Dad Shiro Verse [91]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bullies, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mentors, Tutor!Keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-15 21:26:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15421929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CastielFollowMe/pseuds/CastielFollowMe
Summary: Keith has recently been mentoring a young kid, who reminds him much of himself when he was younger. When Keith catches some bullies tormenting his student, he decides to step in and be the person that Keith had needed when he was younger.





	You Be You and I'll Be Me

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: "Keith (either a senior at high school or a freshman at college) saves a younger kid from bullies. The kid begins to think of Keith as a role model & try to emulate him, from his look to his mannerisms. Keith eventually catches on & reassures the kid that they're wonderful just the way they are. Shiro is a proud dad 

High school was not the greatest time of Keith’s life. At all. In fact, high school was probably near the bottom of that list. However, Keith was thankful that he had less than three months left of high school before graduation. Then by this time next year, he’ll be enlisted as a pilot for the military and (hopefully) flying. Soon enough he would be out of this hellhole.

Away from bullies.

Away from arrogant assholes.

Just  _ away. _

With Keith and Lance being the only ones left to graduate high school this year, Keith found himself having a lot more free time, especially since Hunk and Pidge had already started their first year of college. This meant that Keith could see his dad a lot more before he was shipped to boot camp, however, even his dad couldn’t always be around. Lance had practices on some days which left Keith alone for many days of the week.

Which was why he decided to volunteer for tutoring at the nearby elementary. He wasn’t as great in Math or science as Pidge and Hunk, however, despite his reputation at school, Keith was  _ smart. _ Very smart.

Though he usually kept that to himself and instead focused his skills on helping the younger kids out in Math.

Recently Keith had been tutoring a young kid named Josh. Josh was a kid that Keith had spent a particularly long amount of time with due to Josh being dyslexic and nonverbal. The kid was  _ brilliant _ once he was taught the material in a way that he could understand, but not many tutors or teachers could be as patient with him as Keith was. Maybe Keith was a bit biased, but he had a soft spot for the eleven-year-old, since he too could understand what it was like to have people in authoritative positions not understand him.

So he did his best to help Josh and teach him different ways to solve equations based on his needs, and it  _ worked. _ With Keith’s help, Josh slowly began improving and he could begin to solve equations without any help from Keith at all. His math teacher had been in awe, along with the principle while Josh’s mothers had thanked him profusely for his help. Keith blushed and decided then to continue helping Josh for the rest of the year.

The best days were when Keith brought Red with him to tutoring sessions. Many of the kids were excited when they saw the happy dog and became more motivated to work if pets were a reward. Josh had been exceptionally happy the first time that Keith had brought Red along, flailing his arms and rocking in his chairs. The grin on his face left Keith feeling giddy for  _ days. _

On a random Tuesday afternoon, Keith was making his way with Red towards the classroom that he always met Josh in. Just before the two of them entered the room, Keith could hear voices talking - voices that  _ weren’t  _ Josh.

“Are you even doing the homework?” A nasally young girl practically sneered and Keith felt his blood boil.

“I bet you’re making the nice man with his doggy do it  _ for _ you.” Another voice laughed. This one sounded like a boy.

“Yeah, because you’re too stupid!” A third voice chimed in and Keith’s jaw clenched tightly. _ Three against one? _

Keith didn’t hear Josh say anything back, not that he expected him to. _ Which the kids probably knew already. _ He did hear the sounds of papers being ripped and a scuffle across the room.

“You shouldn’t waste the nice man’s time. You only want to pet the dog.” The girl laughed loudly, causing Keith to peek into the room. The sight before him made his blood boil to its limit.

Josh was sitting at his usual desk, but he was surrounded by three kids. All of his papers and pencils were scattered along the floor and two of the three kids had ripped sheets of paper in their hands. Sheets of paper that had Josh’s math homework on them.

“You’re too stupid so why are you even bothering?” One of the boys sneered before yanking the snapback hat off of Josh’s head. Josh made a distressed noise and he tried to grab the hat back only for the boy to laugh mockingly and put the hat on his own head.

_ Now Keith was going to intervene. _

“What,” He said calmly, despite his anger, as he stepped into the room with Red. “Is going on here?” Even Red was tense at his side, no longer looking like the goofy dog that always came to visit.

The three bullies looked at Keith with looked frightful and nervous at Keith, finally realizing that Keith might have been there the whole time. Josh simply stared at Keith, wide-eyed and jaw slack.

“U-Um, we were, um…” The girl stammered nervously.

“Uh, we were just...we just…” The boy wearing Josh’s hat said.

“It looks like you guys weren’t being very respectful of Josh’s things,” Keith said slowly and crossed his arms over his chest. He pointedly looked to the ripped papers and then Josh’s hat. _ They are just children. You can’t flip out on children.  _ “And it looks like you were  _ bullying _ Josh.”

The three kids gasped and Josh’s eyes widened even further. Keith’s heart ached for the boy.

“No, we weren’t!” One of the boys suddenly cried.

“That’s not what Josh would think. Would you Josh?” Keith replied softly.

“He can’t answer you! He doesn’t know how to!” The girl huffed impatiently and Keith took a deep breath.  _ Patience yields focus. _

“Josh?” Keith ignored the girl and looked directly at his young charge. Josh was nervously tapping his fingers along his pants and staring at Keith occasionally. However, after a minute of silence, Josh nodded.

“See?” Keith smiled at Josh before looking at the three kids. _ Younger Keith might have thrown these kids to the floor. _ “Just because Josh doesn’t talk like you and me, doesn’t mean that he’s  _ stupid _ or that he can’t. Everyone is different. Like, not everyone can roll their tongue together. Or like how not everyone has the same color of skin. Josh learns things differently than us, as do I. But he is incredibly smart.”

The three kids nervously glanced between Keith and Josh, but it looked like they were listening to Keith and Keith was thankful for that. He was hoping that he could get through to these kids while they were still young.

“Josh has been doing his homework all by himself for a long time now and it’s always correct,” Keith said proudly, causing Josh to make a noise of content. “He just needed to learn a different way to do math, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s okay to solve problems differently from what you’re taught as long as you still get the correct answer.”

“R-Really?” The girl timidly asked.

Keith smiled softly. “Yes. The same goes for anyone. There’s no bad way to solve a problem as long as you’re doing it correctly.”

“Whoa,” The boy still wearing Josh’s hat whispered.

“However, taunting Josh and ripping up his homework is inexcusable behavior.” Keith continued with a firm but soft voice. The three kids immediately slumped and Keith was happy to see that they actually looked guilty of their actions.

“Acting like that makes you bullies and bullies are terrible and mean people,” Keith reprimanded, causing the three kids to flinch. “You’re old enough that you should know better because bullying can really hurt people, especially people like me and Josh who can’t always say something back. Your actions have consequences and they can be very negative, especially when Josh has never once done anything wrong to any of you.”

“We’re sorry,” One of the boys whispered sadly.

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.” Keith pointed out and then nodded to Josh. “And I believe that hat belongs to Josh.”

The boy with Josh’s hat scrambled to take the hat off before the three (ex)bullies turned back to Josh. Josh’s eyes were as wide as they could be and he flinched when they turned to him.

“We’re really sorry about being bullies to you Josh. That was wrong of us.” The three kids said quietly. Josh maintained eye contact with them for a few seconds before looking down after he shakily grabbed his hat from one of the boys.

“Does he forgive us?” The girl frowned.

“Josh doesn’t  _ have _ to forgive you right away,” Keith reminded them softly. “However, maybe if you keep trying and you continue to be nice to Josh, he might.  _ And _ maybe you guys could actually become really good friends.” Keith shrugged with a soft smile.

The kids nodded and Keith was pleased to see that none of them looked angry or upset by Keith’s words. Instead, they all had their own looks of determination on their faces, and it brought a smile to Keith’s face.

“Now, how about we have Josh show us this week’s homework…”

x.V.x

“I think you have an admirer.” Shiro grinned one day during conferences at the elementary. Keith had been invited to come so the parents could thank him in person for tutoring their kids. Keith had brought his dad along with the bribe of a free dinner afterward, but honestly, Shiro wanted to be smug and proud of his son all night long.

_ Look at how far Keith has come. _

“Hm?” Keith frowned. Shiro simply nodded his head in the direction of where Josh and his mom were and Keith chuckled quietly.

He began noticing the subtle changes in Josh throughout the weeks but he decided to keep quiet. Although, now his changes were more apparent than usual.

It started off with a change of how Josh walked and presented himself around others. Instead of his shy, closed off posture, he was walking with his chest out and with a sharp glare in his eyes.

Then came the changes in Josh’s wardrobe. Starting with long boots similar to Keith’s own combat boots. Then came the darker jeans and shirts, and finally Josh began sporting a red jacket, that looked as if it had been cut in order to appear cropped.

Keith was almost expecting Josh to be sporting longer hair tonight but luckily hair did not grow that fast. While Keith was flattered, he knew he had to put a stop to this.

Josh deserved to be his  _ own _ person. Not a replica of Keith.

“That’s Josh.”

“The boy you’ve been tutoring the past couple of months?” Shiro asked excitedly. “And those three kids with him?”

Keith grinned when he saw the girl and two boys running over to Josh and his mom to show Josh’s mom Josh’s latest science project. It seemed that the kids had actually taken Keith’s words to heart and were on their way to becoming friends with Josh. Josh was even smiling giddily when they came up to him and his mom. It warmed Keith’s heart and reminded him of his own group of friends.

“Come on, introduce me! I want to meet this prodigy of yours.” Shiro said as he began dragging his son over towards the small group. Keith playfully rolled his eyes but allowed himself to be dragged over. When Shiro began introducing himself to the group, the kids immediately latched onto him.

“Oh my god, Mr. Keith, this is your dad? He’s  _ bigger _ than you!”

“How come your dad has a cooler arm than you?!”

“Are you sure that’s your dad, he looks a young as you!”

While the kids were reeling on Shiro, Keith turned to Josh and waved at the boy who immediately beamed with a flap of his hands. He then pointed to his jacket and boots and Keith laughed.

“Yes, I see! They’re just like mine, huh?” Keith asked and Josh nodded excitedly. “That’s so cool, do you like them?”

At this, Josh simply shrugged but he continued to smile and Keith sighed softly.

“Josh, you know that you don’t have to act like me, right?” Keith said gently and then he rubbed Josh’s shoulders. By then, Josh was fiddling with his fingers. “You’re perfect just the way you are, hat and all. You’re friends like you for  _ you.” _ Keith nodded over towards the three kids who were still by his dad. The three happened to glance at Josh and waved eagerly at him, to which Josh shyly waved back.

“See kid, they like you,” Keith replied with a laugh before plopping Josh’s hat onto his head. “We’re all our own person and no two people are alike. It’s okay to be yourself.” His heart jumped when Josh looked up at him with such an open and earnest expression. Slowly he pointed at his hat and then his jacket with a shy smile.

“Yeah, I think you look great in the hat and jacket. Especially if you like it.” Keith winked, causing Josh to giggle before being swarmed by his friends. Keith watched them fondly until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, Keith saw Shiro grinning at him so brightly that it made his own face flush out of embarrassment.

“I’m so glad you’re my son.” Shiro laughed and Keith sighed.

“Of course. You’re lucky to have me.”

“I know. Who knew that my little spitfire baby boy would turn into such a fine, level-headed young man?”

“I take it back. Maybe Kuro can adopt me instead.”

“Noooo, Keith. Admit it, you’re adorable!”

“I am  _ not!” _

“My adorable little baby.”

_ “Dad.” _


End file.
